Resisting my Step-Brother

She’s not his girlfriend

That evening, Tess had stayed for dinner, which I was pretty annoyed about, and my mum treated her as if she was a welcomed guest. She may have been in her eyes but I didn’t share that opinion. Mum served up dinner and placed the plates in front of us.

“This looks amazing Mary” Tess complimented.

“Thank you Tess, I do enjoy cooking a nice meal in the evenings” my mum gratefully smiled. I rolled my eyes and cut into my steak trying to ignore they’re compliments that cringed me out. 

“How are you enjoying working at the office?” Mark asked her and this caught my attention. 

“I’m really enjoying it actually Mr. Thompson” she politely replied.

“I bet Liam makes it extremely fun” I spitefully snarled. My mum didn’t like that one bit and raised her tone.

“Elle! There’s no need for that now is there?” 

“Honestly Mary, it’s okay. He makes it fun, yes but he also hasn’t really acknowledged me until yesterday when he asked me to come over” she met my grin. Liam has known about this since yesterday and didn’t think to warn me?

“Oh well how lovely” I sarcastically grinned and continued digging at my steak. My mum lowered her eye brows to me and shook her head with disappointment. Once the meal had finished my mum decided to punish my rude behaviour by making me clear up. I wasn’t a child anymore but she likes to pretend that she still has that control. The table was clean, the plates were in the dishwasher and all I had left to do was hand wash the pans. 

I gazed out of the window as I scrubbed, looking out onto the patio where Liam and Tess sat chatting. I kept reminding myself that he was only doing my mums favour and didn’t actually want her here. As much as I tried to convince myself, the little green monster inside of me kept taunting me. Something funny? Just being polite? Stop touching him! Why is he letting her grab his arms in a flirtatious way? I need to look away from the window, I’m just torturing myself. Soon enough, the washing up was all done and I was sitting on the sofa just watching tv by myself. Tess was finally about to leave and walked down the hallway with Liam in tow. 

“Thank you for today, I haven’t laughed like that since before I moved” she giggled.

“No worries, I’ll see you at work tomorrow”

“I hope so” she flirted and then walked out of the door. I rolled my eyes and Liam just went straight to his room. Wow, not even a conversation to reassure me? How gentlemanly of him.

I was working in the evening on Monday and Mark, mum and Liam were at work so I had the house to myself. I kept thinking about Liam and Tess at work together and it was driving me mad. I needed to just try and get my mind off of it. Annie was on shift with me this evening so I called her up to see if she wanted to keep me company until our shift. 

“Hell yeah, I am so bored right now and could do with a bit of girly time!” She exclaimed down the phone.

“I’ll be there in 10!”. And she was, bang on 10 minutes later she knocked at my door. I opened it and greeted her with a hug. 

“Ugh, you’ve saved my sanity” I joked and we grabbed a drink from the kitchen before setting ourselves down in the living room. We talked for a while about normal stuff and she told me about how some of her friends are going out clubbing at the weekend. 

“You should come! It will be such a laugh” she pressed and I smiled at her.

“Why not? I haven’t been out to club since I moved here” I explained. 

“No way?! Oh my god you will love ‘Grudge’. It’s like the most popular club we have and everyone goes there” she grinned. She looked over at the fireplace and noticed a picture of Liam and his sister. She stood up and walked over to it so that she could get a better look.

“Who’s that?!” She exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh, that’s my step- brother, Liam” I informed her and her eyes widened. 

“He’s hot! Wish I had someone living with me that was that attractive. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands to myself” I looked down and blushed slightly, reminiscing on our many s****l experiences.

“I think I saw him earlier today you know” she continued and I snapped my attention to her. 

“Really?”I tried to act normal.

“Yeah, he was grabbing a coffee by the electric company building” she explained. That’s where Liam worked, John owned the towns electricity company and Liam was a part of the enquiries sector. He had his own little office and everything, it was actual quite impressive. 

“Yeah that must of been him, he works in that building” I explained and Annie’s body language slumped slightly.

“Damn, his girlfriend was pretty. Shame he’s taken” she added. I tensed my expression and couldn’t hold back.

“What do you mean... girlfriend?” I prodded. She turned to me slightly confused by my lack of knowledge.

“The blonde girl he was with” she replied and I relaxed.

“Oh no, that’s Tess, he’s just trying to make her feel a bit more... comfortable, since she moved here recently”.

“Are you sure?” She asked and I instantly felt tense again.

“Because he had his arm around her waist and they were laughing flirtatiously at each other” she explained. I lowered my brows and scrunched my nose.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I couldn’t hear a lot of what they were saying but they seemed very comfortable with one another” she responded. I tried to act like I didn’t care but it was extremely difficult.

“Oh, well he’s a bit of a player so it wouldn’t surprise me” I dismissed and tried to change the subject. As the hours flew by, we decided to get ready for work by wearing our slightly formal dresses. I wore a short, red dress that hugged my thighs and red heels, Annie wore a dress that was more lose and flowery. It frilled at the bottom and reached down to her knees. The green and blue flowers complimented her navy heels. I was wrapping my long brown hair into a tight bun when Liam knocked on my door, I could tell from the rhythm of his knock.

“Who is it?” I obnoxiously asked.

“It’s me” he replied and Annie looked at me slightly excited.

“We’re getting ready!” I yelled but he entered anyway.

“We?” He asked and looked at me, stunned by my outfit.

“Wow, are you going out somewhere?” He asked with his mouth slightly apart. I shook my head.

“No where special, I’ve got an evening shift with Annie...” I pointed to her as if introducing her for the first time casually.

“...we are leaving in 5 minutes” I finished. He looked extremely irritated all of a sudden.

“Dressed like that?” He snapped and I scrunched my face up.

“Yes Liam, dressed like this, the way that I normally dress for work as it is apart of the dress code” I reminded him and he tensed his jaw.

“Don’t you think it’s a little... much for work?”. I could tell he wasn’t happy with the amount of effort I had made for a shift but I didn’t care. Two can play at this game and I was going to win.

“Whatever Liam, it’s not really any of your business”. He was slightly shocked by my attitude and folded his arms.

“Right... none of my business”. Annie watched us exchange back and forth, slightly uncomfortable by the atmosphere. 

“Come on Annie, we will be late at this rate” I beckoned her and brushed past Liam. She followed me out and offered me a ride since her car was outside. I hopped in her car and saw Liam looking out of the living room window in utter confusion as to why I was behaving like this.

“What was that all about?” She asked me and I shook my head.

“Nothing, he can just be an arse sometimes” I dismissed and we drove off.